Vocals and Virtues
by Charissa Eden
Summary: My name's Analiese. Everyone just calls me Ana. Until I was about eleven I thought I was just some white trash in the trailer park with a depressed mom and a jerk for a father. Then I found out me and my brothers were demigods and even among other demigods we were kind of weird.
1. Chapter 1

My name is Analiese Pfeiffer and I'm a demigod. Of course, I didn't know that until about the time I was eleven. Maybe my mom knew who my dad really was, but she never said anything. No. She loved my father. I guess that's why she had six children with him. He didn't stick around long much. My mom said after she found out she was pregnant with me, she didn't see him again until I was nearly six years old. Nine months later my little brother Jake was born. I remember seeing him twice between Jake's birth and Tyler's. Later, we'd have three more brothers, Alexander, Benjamin, and Jacob.

By the time I was eleven, I didn't even know my father's last name. I knew his face. Or at least I thought I did. My mom just called him Fred. I always thought it was weird. He didn't look like a Fred. He looked young. Curly blond locks like me and my brothers all had and bright blue eyes.

We could have been one of those families they have in the picture frames when you buy them, you know if my dad was around constantly. And we didn't live in a trailer park.

I think it was around the time that Tyler was born that I really started hating my dad. He never did a thing for my ma or me and my brothers. Things just started happening that were just so bad. And did my dad ever show up to help?

Of course not.

When my mom was pregnant with Tyler, she had to take off work. You know, she couldn't very well waitress when she nine months pregnant. But after he was born, they wouldn't take her back. Her boss yelled at her and said an unmarried twenty seven year old had no business with three kids.

I forgot to mention that my mom got pregnant with me when she was sixteen. It wouldn't have been so bad, but her parents kicked her out, at least expecting my dad to help her. He didn't. She had to drop out of school and tried to support me, though the government had to help out.

I didn't blame my mom though. She was sweet and had a big heart. And boy could she sing. Her voice could sooth and angry tiger.

After she lost her job though, she stopped singing mostly. Things got rough for a long time. After she lost her job we had to move into a smaller trailer. It only had one bedroom. Ty's crib was shoved in the corner and me, Jake, and my mom all slept on the bed.

I remember the exact day that things shattered. It was a normal day, or at least something that had become normal. My mom was lying in her bed and I was trying to get Jake ready for school. Tyler was crying because he was hungry. He was about four months old then. Mom still hadn't found another job.

"Jake, c'mon, you gotta get ready for kindergarten!" I yelled, my thick Alabama drawl coming out. Of course though, it didn't sound anything but normal, because that's where we lived. Alabama.

"I don't wanna go!" he said stubbornly. His curls covering his eyes as he shook his head furiously.

"You're going!" I yelled at him. "Now stop being so stupid and get ready. We can't be late!" I guess that finally got him to move. He sure was stubborn for a five year old. He did go to the pile of clothes though and get dressed. Tyler was still crying. I guess it was going to be one of those days for mom. I hurried and brushed my hair. It wasn't so curly like Jake's, but it was wavy and hard to deal with. I gave up and hurried over to Tyler and scooped him up. It didn't look like ma had changed him at all this morning. He was cranky and got why. But it didn't make changing him any easier. I got a bottle for him and set him in his carrier. Ma wasn't going to watch him today. Maybe Ms. Gready would.

She was an old lady. Retired. Sweet as could be. She said she moved to the trailer park after her husband died because her house was too big, but she didn't want to be in some old folks home. I made a diaper bag and some bottles, and then made sure Jake had his stuff too. I grabbed my book bag and Ty in his carrier. With my free hand I took Jake's hand and we left.

I didn't say anything to Ma. She wouldn't notice. Not today anyway. We walked three trailers down and I banged on the door. Ms. Gready opened it and smiled, kindly.

"Ms. Gready, my mom's sick today. Could you watch Tyler while me and Jake go to school?" I asked, hesitantly. For a lady that was supposed to be retired, she looked youngish, I guess. There was still color in her face and her hair wasn't grey. It was like a curly, faded, brown. She still looked pretty, like she could have been a model when she was young.

She nodded. "Of course dear," she said with another smile. "You know I just love having him here."

"Thank you ma'am," I said softly as I handed over my little brother. "I just fed and changed him. He should be good on the feeding for a while. There's some bottles too. But in case there wasn't enough to last, I put the formula in there too. And I think he's getting' kinda a cold. Put some of that pee-de-a-light stuff in there too…" I think that's what it was called.

I knew that look in Ms. Gready's eyes. It's the same look Mr. Phil gives me at the grocery store. Or Bubba at the recycling center. The look that says they think that they should call child services, it had happened before, but they didn't want me and my brothers split up. And it's not like my ma beat us or anything. She just…she just got sad and missed my dad.

"You two just wait one second," she said as she took Tyler inside. She came back with two brown bags. Breakfast to go. She'd done it before. I was grateful. I hadn't been able to eat and Jake didn't get much either.

"Thank you, Ms. Gready," Jake said, finally piping up.

"Now, you two run along. Don't wanna miss the bus," she said. I nodded and took Jake's hand. The bus stop wasn't far. We got there with enough time to eat the contents of the bag. A granola bar, apple, yogurt, and a pop tart each.

I sat Jake in the front of the bus when it came and then moved to the back. We had assigned seats, mostly by grades. Since I was in fifth, I sat in the back of the bus with the one friend I had, River. It was a weird name, but he was kind of a weird kid. He had pushy dark hair that was more of a mess than Jacob's curls. And he had really dark eyes. Even in the summer he wore pants. And he had a weird laugh.

"Hey, River," I said as I sat down next to him, moving my ragged book bag to my lap. Most of the stuff I own is crap I rummaged out of goodwill or the lost and found. My sneakers were old and word. They pinched my toes sort of, but I didn't complain. Jake needed shoes too, so he got them first. I had a little bit of can money saved up. I might be able to find some at the thrift store. Get a couple sizes bigger. They might last longer.

"You okay, Ana?" he asked as he looked me over. "You look tired."

"Ma's in one of her moods. Tyler's getting' sick. Had to leave him with Ms. Gready down the way," I said as I stifled a yawn.

"So I'm guessing you didn't have time to do the homework," he commented. Crap. I had forgotten that we had homework. It was some stupid reading. I groaned. I just couldn't get a break today. I didn't feel like talking much after that. I was just hoping I wouldn't be kept out of music time.

Our school couldn't afford a full time teacher, or even a part time one. So music time was once a week, for forty five minutes with the regular teacher, using the old music room. Most of the stuff still worked pretty good, but it was old. I guess I got the music thing from my mom. It was the only thing that I was good at.

It didn't matter if I was ADHD and dyslexic. I could sing. I didn't like singing much though in front of our teacher. She was a mean old bat. She only let us do music time because she had to. I trudged of the bus when it stopped in front of the school and made sure Jake got to his class okay. His teacher, Ms. Brinkle, was a nice young lady. She let Jake stay late so I could usually serve out my detentions. I got a lot of them.

I got a lot of those. But they weren't usually my fault. Well, I guess it was my fault that I couldn't do my homework. That's what I usually got them for. Sometimes I got them for fighting. But it was good for Jake. He got to do some extra tutoring. He had dyslexia and ADHD too. I figured Tyler would have it too.

River and I wandered down the color coded hall to our classroom. However, it wasn't our usually teacher sitting at her desk. It was a man in a wheelchair. Man, did he have a wild beard. It was like Bubba's down at the recycling center. Except his wasn't really gross looking. He had a nice suit, but his legs were covered by a blanket. Of course everyone was muttering to themselves and their friends about it. There were about thirty five of us in the class. The school couldn't afford more teachers.

"Good morning class," he said as he looked around. "I am Mr. Brunner and will be taking over for Mrs. Daniels for a few weeks." For some reason his eyes landed on me. It made me uncomfortable, but I just shifted in my seat. It made me uncomfortable. I decided just to stare at my desk. River seemed to like the guy. I'd never had a guy teacher before. Bubba always guys who did that were queers and there something peculiar about them.

I had spaced out again, wondering why it wasn't okay for men to be teachers, but then River elbowed me and I focused back on Mr. Bruner. He was asking for homework. Crap. When he got to me, he looked down at the roll. "Do you have your homework, Analiese?" he asked.

"No," I muttered. "Didn't do it."

"Analiese, I'd like to speak with you during recess, okay?" he said. I looked up and nodded. He didn't sound angry. Or even surprised. Maybe the other teachers told him what a horrible student I was. I wasn't surprised.

"Of course," I muttered. I was angry already. This guy was judging me already. What a jerk.


	2. Chapter 2

The first half of the day went by slow. I couldn't focus. Not on school anyway. River kept poking me in the shoulder when I stopped focusing. Mr. Brunner was talking about the reading we were doing. It was some stupid book called My Brother Sam is Dead. I think. Something like that. I hated reading. It was hard and made me sleepy. It just took too long. I had other things to do.

Like today. Today was Tuesday. The day before garbage day. That meant it was the best day to go collect cans and bottles and take them to Bubba at the recycling center. The center closed at six. Then after that I needed to go to the grocery store. Mr. Phil was working today. He was the owner of the small place and was nice. He didn't give me dirty looks when I had to use food stamps or WIC for Tyler's food.

When we started taking notes on the books, I stopped paying attention again and was scribbling a list of stuff we needed from the store. Tyler needed more diapers. They were so freaking expensive. Stupid diapers.

"Ms. Pfeiffer, I need your assignment," said. I jumped slightly. I didn't even know he was near my desk. I kept my head down and passed him the half done worksheet. He looked it over and then took River's. The look on his fast must have been funny because the other kids were laughing at me. Not like I wasn't used to it. I was. I hated everyone in the class. Except for River.

The day didn't get any better after that. We did math next and it was so frustrating I took the bathroom pass and stayed in there for most of the lesson. I hated math. It was as bad as reading. When I finally went back to the classroom everyone was getting ready for lunch. Once we had lined up, Mr. Brunner led the way. When we reached the cafeteria, though he held me back.

"Why don't you get your lunch and bring it back to the classroom and we can have a little chat," he said. I scrunched my brows. I wasn't in the mood for this crap.

"Okay," I muttered. I did as I was told. It didn't help today that the food was gross spaghetti. It was all mushy. I was used to gross food though. This wasn't anything new, really. I went back to the classroom. Mr. Brunner was sitting at the desk and soft music was playing. Sinatra. I liked that. The thrift shop always had a lot of old Sinatra CDs for really cheap.

Music was probably the only thing I could say I really liked. Or was really good at, though I never really sang in front of anyone except my brothers and that was just lullabies.

I guess I had stopped moving when I heard the music.

"Is my taste in music that abhorring to the youth these days?" he chuckled. I looked up and shook my head.

"No. I like it. Frank Sinatra, right? Ol' Man River, right?" I asked and he seemed a little impressed, or surprised. Maybe both.

"Correct. Come, sit," he said motioning to the desk he had pulled up, I guess to near the teacher's desk. I did so hesitantly. I never really got along well with adults. They thought I was a troublemaker. Maybe I was. My usual scowl deepened as I thought about that. He must have noticed because he asked me why I looked so angry. "Is something the matter?"

"No. This is just my face," I muttered as he looked away from him.

"You have a very old face," he commented as he picked at the salad that was in front of him. I just scowled a bit more.

"Am I gonna get detention again for not having my homework? I can't do it today. I got things to do," I told him as I stared at the nasty lunchroom food in front of me. I was too angry to eat.

"Like going to the grocery store?" he asked as he held up my worksheet. I guess I had scribbled part of list on that instead of actually answering the questions.

I just stared at him. I felt uncomfortable. I really didn't want to talk to him about that. There was a moment that passed where we just stared at each other. I had gotten used to such stare downs. I'd had a lot.

"And why is an eleven year old worried about diapers?" he asked.

"Because I got a little brother that wears 'em."

A look of concern crossed his face and his brow furrowed. "You have a brother still in diapers?"

"Yeah. His name is Tyler. He's only like four months old. And then I have Jake He's five," I told him.

Then he asked the weird question. He asked about my dad. "Are you all by the same father?"

"Yeah," I told him though just the thought of my father made me angry. I hated him, I figured. "Haven't seen him since Ma was pregnant though and she told him. Not surprised. He only comes around once in a while." This seemed to really upset Mr. Brunner. I don't know why. I don't know why I just blabbed about it. There was something weird about Mr. Brunner. He was nicer than other teachers. He hadn't yelled at me yet. That was good, right?

Something was off though. Maybe I just wasn't used to trusting adults. They'd never done much for me before.

"Well, if he does, will you tell me?" he asked. I don't know why he took such a peculiar interest in me and my brothers, but he did. Maybe I shouldn't trust him? I don't know.

"You know my dad?" I asked hesitantly. He stared at me for a moment. Then he slowly nodded.

"I did," he said, but there was something about his tone that made me wonder if he was lying. Or maybe he just didn't think he knew him anymore. Like maybe he had been a different person when he was younger. Guess maybe he did. Would be a surprise though to find someone was as big a jerk as my dad. I wanted to ask him another question, but couldn't figure out what, so I just scooped up some of that mush that was on my plate and put it in my mouth.

"How old are you, Analiese?" he asked after I had managed to shove a few more bites of food into my mouth.

"Eleven. Be twelve in a couple of months. In August," I told him as I poked at the remaining bits of food on my tray.


End file.
